A cost-utility analysis of neonatal circumcision

Med Decis Making. 2004 Nov-Dec;24(6):584-601. doi: 10.1177/0272989X04271039.

Abstract

A cost-utility analysis, based on published data from multiple observational studies, comparing boys circumcised at birth and those not circumcised was undertaken using the Quality of Well-being Scale, a Markov analysis, the standard reference case, and a societal perspective. Neonatal circumcision increased incremental costs by $828.42 per patient and resulted in an incremental 15.30 well-years lost per 1000 males. If neonatal circumcision was cost-free, pain-free, and had no immediate complications, it was still more costly than not circumcising. Using sensitivity analysis, it was impossible to arrange a scenario that made neonatal circumcision cost-effective. Neonatal circumcision is not good health policy, and support for it as a medical procedure cannot be justified financially or medically.

MeSH terms

  • Circumcision, Male / adverse effects
  • Circumcision, Male / economics*
  • Cost-Benefit Analysis
  • Hospitalization / economics
  • Humans
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Male
  • Markov Chains
  • Postoperative Complications / economics
  • Postoperative Complications / etiology